Zen and the Art of Jackie Maintenance
by sandstorm1
Summary: Takes place during Jackie's "Summer of Herself". Hyde decides to make a move.


ZEN AND THE ART OF JACKIE MAINTENANCE

AN:  Takes place during the summer of Jackie

DISCLAIMER:  I own nothing related to That '70's Show so please don't sue me.

Chapter 1

Eric, Donna, Fez, Jackie, Kelso, and Hyde were sitting around in the basement watching Saturday Night Live.  Throughout the show, Hyde kept stealing glances at Jackie while Kelso kept trying to "accidentally" grope her.  She spurned his advances in true badass form and kept her attention focused on the program.  While she refused to even look in Hyde's direction, he noticed that she laughed softly at several of his wittier comments.  Hmm, okay, this is promising, he thought to himself.  

When the program drew to a close, Eric and Donna broke their clench and Donna said, "Come on, Jackie, let's head home."

As the two girls headed out the door, Hyde caught Jackie giving him a quick glance.  This inspired him and he jumped to his feet and ran to catch up with them in the driveway.

"Uh, hey Jackie, could I talk to you for a second?" he asked nervously.

"Sure, Steven.  What is it?" she asked while looking at him quizzically.

Donna told them both goodnight and headed off for home, hiding her delighted smile.

Hyde looked unusually nervous and ill at ease but finally blurted out, "Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

"You mean, like on a date?  A real date?"

"Um, yeah, you know, a date-date.  We could go out to dinner and maybe catch a movie or something."

Jackie looked at him for a minute before replying softly, "Sure, Steven, I'd like that."

"Well, um, uh, how about next Saturday night?  We could go to the Vineyard and then maybe catch the late movie if you want."  

"Okay, pick me up at 7:00.  I'll see you then.  Goodnight, Steven," Jackie said, giving him a sweet smile before heading into the house.

Hyde stood in the driveway until he saw Jackie safely enter the Pinciotti house.  A huge smile lit up his face and he said softly, "Alriiiight!"

The next week passed both quickly and with excruciating slowness.  Hyde worked a couple of extra shifts to earn extra money and to make sure that he could have Saturday night off.  Bright and early Monday morning, he had called the Vineyard to make a reservation and specifically asked for a secluded corner table.  He checked the local movie schedule and saw with dismay that the late show was a crummy romantic chick flick.  Oh, well, maybe that was a good thing.  Jackie would see that he was willing to even endure maudlin romance for her sake.

He had his corduroy sport jacket cleaned and even ironed his only good dress shirt.  Damn, should he wear jeans or not?  Unable to decide what to do, he approached Mrs. Forman for an opinion.  After engaging in a few minutes of motherly raptures, Kitty finally decided that he should wear his good khaki pants that he had purchased for graduation.  She also suggested that flowers would be a nice touch.  Hyde of course went on his usual rant about Madison Avenue's ideas about romantic crap but then finally decided to cave.  He needed every advantage at this stage of the game.

Hyde didn't see Jackie again all week and by Thursday he was starting to worry that maybe she had changed her mind.  He was pacing around in the basement that evening when he suddenly had a flashback to a girl named Melissa that he had briefly been interested in.  He remembered that she had told him he needed to call her about their date.  Being Hyde, he had of course rebelled at the conventionality of it all and never did call her.  Now he was re-thinking the whole issue and decided that, for him, being conventional was actually _unconventional_.  Yeah, okay, that reasoning would work.  Steeling his nerve, he picked up the phone and dialed the Pinciotti's number.

Donna answered and, assuming that he was calling for her, began a ramble about moving to Madison and what courses she was going to take her first semester.  Hyde finally had to interrupt and ask for Jackie.

"Oh, this must be about your date Saturday night.  Don't tell me, Hyde, you're finally whipped, whipped like the family pig!"

"Come on, Donna, cut it out, man.  Just let me talk to her and get this over with," he said nervously.

He heard Donna call out, "Jackie, it's for you.  It's the curly-haired neighbor boy."

There was a looooong pause, during which Hyde felt like he was going to either hang-up or call the whole thing off_.  Come on, man, be Zen_, he thought to himself.  _You can do this._  The seconds ticked by.  _Damn, Jackie, pick up the phone!_ he thought as butterflies began to circle in his stomach.

Finally, he heard her soft "Hello."

"Umm, yeah, Jackie, it's me.  I, uh, was just calling to make sure we were still on for Saturday night.  I mean, if you changed your mind or something, that's cool.  I'm not worried about it or anything it's just that I made reservations for us and I have to call and confirm them so if you want to cancel just let me know cause it's not like a big deal or any…."

Jackie finally managed to get a word in edgewise in the middle of this uncharacteristic ramble.  "Steven, we made a date.  I'll expect you at 7:00, okay?"

"Great! Oh, man, that's gre…I mean, uh, that's cool.  I'll see you at 7:00 then.  Right, okay, 7:00.  I'll be there."

"Okay.  Goodnight, Steven," she said softly before hanging up the phone.

Yes, yes, yes!  Okay, I'm cool.  No big thing.  Damn, I sure do miss that girl.  Crap, I _am_ whipped.  He tried to feel disgruntled but was just too damn happy.

Saturday afternoon was the longest of his life.  He showered twice he was so nervous and waited til the last moment to get dressed so that his clothes wouldn't wrinkle.  With ten minutes left to go, he suddenly couldn't find his tie.  He was just about to go tearing up the stairs to steal one from Forman when Kitty came bouncing merrily down the stairs.

"Oh, Steven, don't you look handsome.  And here, I bought you a new tie.  Let's just get this on and then you're all ready."

"There," she said, stepping back to admire her handiwork.  "You just look super-dooper.  Any girl would be proud to be with you.  Now, do you have your wallet?  Good.  Oops, don't forget to get your flowers out of the fridge.  Good luck, Sweetie," she said while giving him a motherly kiss on the cheek. 

Hyde bounded up the stairs, quickly grabbed the small bouquet of pink roses he had purchased that morning, and nervously set off for the first "official" date of his life (not counting Junior Prom, of course).  Yeah, he thought, Prom didn't really count because he lost his date to Kelso and ended up with that bimbo Pam Macy.  Well, okay, easy sex was always nice but it just didn't compare to this love stuff.

End of Chapter 1.  Hope you enjoyed it and that it was not too OOC.   


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